Excuse the wands please. hehe Need to put the new tubes I bought on them and get them all situated but the 2 year old doesn't allow for me to do these things very easity.

Gonna try to post the 2 that the kids named. The orange one with the red head is Tiger and the other one has the black on his fin and tail, can't remember his name right now. Will have to ask my other daughter when she gets home from school. whoops

Don't worry, I will be putting in live plants and some decor once the tank is finished cycling.

Tiger is a real PIG! I'm so worried he won't fit in with fancies. He was at the front of the tank going up and down the glass wanting me to feed him again while I was trying to get pictures, he always does this when anyone comes to the tank. He also goes to the back when the food is put in and grabs the food first, it goes behind the filter when you put the food in, guess the water pushes it that way and Tiger is back there behind it waiting. He is now the biggest one in the tank I think and he was just average size in comparison to the other when we put them all in. lol

I agree with Hanna, your fish have such lovely colors! It'd be a waste to give them away to get eaten All fish are little wonders, really, I'm sure that once you'll get to know all of yours, you won't even understand how you could imagine giving them away

That little orange one in the second and third photo looks exactly like my Sunshine when I got her, now look at how beautiful she is You should keep them really, you can get a Ranchu another time. I understand the draw of a Ranchu, I would love love love to have one, but nothing beats my Sunshine and any other comet Especially ones you saved the lives of!

I understand your feelings about saving them but I can't keep all of them even if I wanted to. There are over 20 in there and that would be way too many once they get some size on them.

It was in another thread but I'll let you know here as well, my stepdaughter and her Mom are looking for some fish for her goldfish pond that is empty right now so I'm going to see if she wants some for the pond if they will work. They would have much more room that way and hopefully still not get eaten.

I love my goldfish, and it makes me feel terrible for you to USE them just to cycle a tank with no regard for them at all.Just moving from one place to another is very stressful. I have gorgeous comets, commons and shubunkins in my 75 gallon tank and I have 12. Some of mine are over 12 years old. I posted pictures of them in the what filter for a 75 gallon tank thread. With the proper filtration and maintenace schedule, those fish would be fine. You could give some to your stepdaughter but how big is the pond and how do they maintain it? The welfare of these goldfish should be a first priority IMO!! I feel very sad and would take them for you if I could. They will grow so beautiful, eventually, you would not believe it. I just wonder why you think these goldfish are any less of a goldfish than a fancier breed?

I love my goldfish, and it makes me feel terrible for you to USE them just to cycle a tank with no regard for them at all.Just moving from one place to another is very stressful. I have gorgeous comets, commons and shubunkins in my 75 gallon tank and I have 12. Some of mine are over 12 years old. I posted pictures of them in the what filter for a 75 gallon tank thread. With the proper filtration and maintenace schedule, those fish would be fine. You could give some to your stepdaughter but how big is the pond and how do they maintain it? The welfare of these goldfish should be a first priority IMO!! I feel very sad and would take them for you if I could. They will grow so beautiful, eventually, you would not believe it. I just wonder why you think these goldfish are any less of a goldfish than a fancier breed?

I really liked this forum but why the harsh words? Now I feel like I am trying to be forced to keep something that I didn't intend to keep, these are feeder fish, they were meant to be feed to other fish. If I had known that I could cycle the tank without them then I would have done it that way but I didn't find this info. till it was too late, even most other websites still list the hardy fish cycle process. I just happened upon this site too late. I feel like I'm being forced out now. The reason I decided to do a goldfish tank and not tropical is because there are certain goldfish I wanted to put in it, one from my childhood to be exact. I know these can become really nice fish but its not what I intended when I started it back up. I can see that you are kind hearted towards to fishies but the way this came across was hurtful, I can't imagine that anyone on here goes to the LFS and buys all the feeder fish to save them right? I'm not some terrible heartless person like this has made me sound...

So here is what I am going to do. Husband mentioned it last night and it sounds like a good idea to me.

We are going to put all the fish into the 20g tank for now and see where we can move them after that. Since the ammonia and nitrites are going to go up that scares me that these fish will die if not doing water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrites down, which will make for a longer and harder cycle all together. I'm going to do the fishless cycle then on the 75g and get the tank exactly like it needs to be before doing anything else.

I know the fish can't stay in the 20g and I will have to do water changes like crazy to keep the ammonia out but we can make it work till I find a better solution for them. They are only 1"- 1 1/2" right now, some even smaller. I also have a 10g and 5g if needed and filters/pumps and all items needed for them. I will work it out and find them homes as I can before they get too large. My Mom also has another 10g tank if I needed it with all the supplies for it that she doesn't have set up any longer. I may end up keeping a couple of them anyway that the kids fell in love with in a different tank.

The ammonia is reading .25 now and 0 on everything else. So its still really in the beginning process. But I don't want to see these fish die either. Will be a ton easier to do a fishless cycle and not have to worry about how high the ammonia/nitrites are getting during it and protecting the fish from dieing.

Any other suggestions you can think of? This was just what my husband and I came up with last night when we were testing the water.

Bel, Are you using beneficial bacteria in your filter media?and if ammonia is present you should be doing water changes and adding bacteria booster right to your filter media everytime you do a water change.I'm sorry you feel I was harsh but I've rescued so many of these beautiful fish from people or schools that didn't want them anymore. If I tell you I feel sad, then I can't help it. I think putting them all, cramming them into asmaller 20 gallon tank and make them cycle that is even crueler. I would leave them where they are and let them finish cycling the tank and add beneficial bacteria and do the water changes.

You can always give away a few of them at a time to the people with the pond and, if absolutely necessary, grab a few fancies.

I'd suggest you read up on goldfish diets if you want fancy goldfish!! It happens too often on this forum that people make posts like "Pearl scale upside down" or "Swim bladder problem?" Because they're not feeding the fish correctly.

Have a peek at the "Guide to feeding veggies" thread, there's some info about general goldie food as well

I wasn't going to let the 20g cycle with them in there, was going to do bare bottom and keep the ammonia out doing water changes till they find their new home. I found out today that the pond is 100g and they would love to put some in it as soon as its ready. They had some huge fish in there for years and a storm last year made a huge limb fall into the pond killing their fish. She said her others started off like the ones I have so they would like to get them. This was great news.

But I can keep the water clean and safe for them easier in the 20g for a small time till they are ready to go to their new home. Was thinking I could do this alot easier than trying to keep the 75g changed so much. And just let the 75 cycle with no fishies. But if you think they would be better staying in the 75g and cycling with it still I can keep it that way, I need that bacteria too, read about that and I will pick some up. I'm going to do a water change this weekend. How much should I do so as not to mess up the cycling process?

Nossie, I have been reading up on the feeding and couldn't believe how many different kinds of foods they love. I didn't read the one on here yet, didn't see it but I will check it out too. The jel cubes you can make and freeze with anything from fresh veggies to tuna was really neat! I can't wait to try some of those out, I bet they go nuts over them. Peas is very important I read for keeping them cleaned out so to speak. Read many times about what you said with the swim bladder problems and how to help that not to happen with a good diet. Trust me I am taking in as much now as I can so I don't make another mistake.

Well I think it will be great if you can give as many fish as you can away to your friends with the pond I know it was an honest mistake that you bought 20 fish to cycle your tank with but take this as a lesson to make sure in the future that you research things on the internet and in books before you go ahead with them...and do not believe everything you hear at the pet shop, because a lot of the time they are wrong and are just trying to get as much money off you as they can

You should definitely keep them in the 75 gallon until it's cycled, it would be such a waste and risk to move them to the 20 gallon and keep it uncycled! They would never have a safe moment in the tank since all the ammonia they create would STAY ammonia instead of being converted into the less toxic compounds. Honestly, it would be cruel to do that to them. Goldfish create ammonia just by breathing, and having a 20 gallon tank overcrowded by 18 fish (at least) is... plain insane.I don't mean to be offensive or mean to you, but that's simply how it is, save yourself the trouble of setting the tank up and just keep them in this one for now. If possible you don't have to leave ALL of them in the tank until it's ready, but you can give some of them away whenever you can, if that feels better. Keeping them in a tank that small would stunt their growth anyway, and how would you know for how long you'd have to keep them there??

I agree. Talked some more about it with the husband and we would have to do daily water changes on the 20g to keep them there for a little while so the ammonia wouldn't get too high in there. I was just worried that the nitrites would harm them more that are going to start up in the 75g. Read that they were the most toxic but I'm sure you guys can help me keep them low enough so that it won't kill the fishies right? If you can please let me know how much to change out and how often since this is being done differently than what is listed on this site. How high is too high for the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate to be running?

I live in NC so it should be warm enough pretty soon to move them to the pond. They wanted to wait till the temps are good outside so its not a big shock and I agree that would be best. We are going to start moving them just a couple at a time to see how they adjust when its time. Sound good so far there?

Ammonia is the most toxic compound, it can kill a fish in incredibly small amounts! And already when it shows up on the chart (0.25 even) can cause burns on the skin of the fish.

Nitrites, are far less harmful they're the second stage of the cycling process, if it's starting to show up on your tests, it means that the first beneficial bacteria have arrived They get toxic on pretty high levels compared to ammonia, it usually says on the test when you should start changing water.

Nitrates, nothing higher than 50, that's absolute maximum, this is the levels where your fish may get sick from the poor water quality. It's ideal to keep the nitrates beneath 25-30ppm.

Water changes: Let the test results decide how much you change each time. If you have a large amount of waste present in the tank, don't be afraid to change out even 50% of the water.The beneficial bacteria live in the filter and in the substrate, so they won't be harmed if you remove some of the dirty water.However, be sure that the fresh water is about the same temperature as the water in the tank, so you won't shock the fish or the bacteria.

Yes, it definitely sounds good so far You should put your fish in a bag when you're transporting them, like those you get from the pet shop. This way you can soak the bag for about half an hour to let the temperatures match. The fish would be less stressed then If the pH is different in the water in the pond than what they're used to, no big deal, they would take hours to acclimatize to it anyway, so don't bother pouring any of the pond water into the bag. Just move them when the temp is good

Testing every other day usually but I did test the last two days to keep an extra eye on the ammonia. Its now at .50 so it needs a good change and no nitrites or nitrates are showing. I was waiting till I heard from someone here to do the change so I didn't mess up anything.

I had one other question but I'm going to put it in a different thread so people looking can find answers as well.

I haven't been able to get to a pet store or anywhere to get it yet. Nearest store is 30mins away but my sweet husband will pick some up either tomorrow or the next day since he will be working in that town. I did a 30% water change today and I'm going to check the parameters before bed to see how it is looking now. Can do another change if the ammonia is too high. Can I just add that bacteria without doing a water change at the same time since I did one already today?

I took some updated pictures of the tank and fishies. These are temp. decorations that I had on hand until I can get the live plants, which is a must have. I love me some plants and gardening. The fish babies have been so much happier since they have some things to swim through and play in. They love playing in the bubbles and they are great at posing for a photo shoot.

The tank looks so beautiful Just you wait until you'll have some big, lush plants there too Mine are just starting to make a difference! They're growing like crazy lately The little fishies are so cute there! I hope they'll all make it alright so they can move in to their new pond later